Tensions in Iraq are 'troubling': US general

AFP - Sectarian tensions and political discord in Iraq
signal a "troubling" trend in the country since US troops withdrew a
year ago, a top American general warned on Thursday.
Iraq has remained stable but "fragile," said General Lloyd Austin,
who was the last US commander in Iraq before all his forces withdrew in
December 2011.
Austin offered his assessment when pressed by Republican Senator John
McCain, a hawk on the Iraq war who has heavily criticized President
Barack Obama for pulling out American troops.
"So do you believe Iraq is headed in a positive or negative direction?" McCain asked the general.
"Sir, I think, again, some of the things that we're seeing in Iraq
are very troubling, with the Arab current tensions, with the Sunni
protests," he said.
McCain then asked: "So whether we had troops there -- a residual force there or not wouldn't have mattered?"
Austin acknowledged that a US troop presence would have been helpful.
"I think that, certainly, if we could have continued to advise and
assist the Iraqis, I think certainly it would have continued to make
them better."
The Obama administration says it sought to negotiate a follow-on
force but the Iraqi government refused to grant legal immunity to US
forces deployed there.
McCain and some other lawmakers, however, have argued that the White
House did not make a concerted effort to clinch an agreement.
Austin said that while there was cause for concern, there were also
some encouraging signs, citing oil production and the performance of
Iraqi security forces, which he said had remained united despite
political crisis.
"They've been challenged several times, in terms of security, but the
security forces have really held, and they're still loyal to the
civilian leadership. They haven't fractured," the general said.
"And so there are a couple of things in there that do indicate that
if they begin to make the right decisions politically, that I think they
have a chance at moving in the right direction."
Austin discussed Iraq and other hotspots at a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing on his nomination to take over US Central Command,
which oversees US forces across the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Iraq has been rocked by a wave of car bombs and suicide attacks in
recent weeks, raising fears of a return to the sectarian bloodshed that
plagued the country from 2005 to 2008.
The violence has come against a backdrop of political crisis and
weeks of protests in Sunni-majority areas demanding the ouster of Shiite
prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.